IT was regarded in some quarters as the hoisting of the white flag, an indication that Liverpool are laying the grounds for a future laced with mediocrity.

“The ownership problems are well documented and I can’t wave a magic wand and make them go away,” said Roy Hodgson, ahead of his side’s trip to Birmingham City last weekend.

“Of course, I cannot deny the club needs new ownership.

“We’re not alone in that, but we’re probably the most high-profile club in the world in that situation. I think we will have a decent season. I am confident the boys won’t let the fans and the club down.

“Whether or not we will really get our act together as we’d like to so we can take the next big step, well, that will depend on the ownership issue being settled.”

How true.

While certain critics will have taken this as a sign that Hodgson is being defeatist, the only way to view such a statement is to say he was being totally honest and realistic – the longer that Tom Hicks and George Gillett remain at Anfield, the bigger the problems will become.

News in recent days that Hicks has spent time frantically trying to secure a refinancing deal, hanging on for grim life, has been greeted with complete dismay by supporters who are vexed and perplexed by this brash Texan’s action.

Gillett, it would appear, has accepted that his time to move on has come but his fellow owner, who has recently been in the UK and stayed at Claridges (cost a mere £1,800 per night for a suite), is examining every possible way to keep the Royal Bank of Scotland at bay.

It is an utterly farcical situation.

When you talk about Liverpool, you should be concerned with great games, great players and great aims but now it is almost as if you need a degree in economics, to try and make head or tail of what is going on.

If much of the various machinations leave you puzzled, however, one thing everybody knows for sure is that dreams of becoming England’s Premier team and conquering Europe will have to remain on hold the longer the turmoil drags on.

You can say Liverpool spent a fair chunk of money this summer but would the deals to sign Raul Meireles and Paul Konchesky have been completed without the sale of Javier Mascherano to Barcelona to swell the coffers?

Precisely.

Pepe Reina tried to be a diplomatic as possible when he was quizzed on the situation after the draw at Birmingham, saying “things would be easier” if the ownership problems were finally sorted out but the expression he sported – weary resignation – was indicative of the masses.

This might seem an obvious point but it must be said again; if Liverpool’s squad does not benefit from proper investment, they are going to slip further and further away from the spot they so desperately covet.

The more they struggle to play with fluency, the more they do not have top quality players to come in and plug gaps when required, the more disillusioned people will become and the more we will have to put up with statements such as this from Robbie Savage.

“Passions run so high in the ‘North-West Classico’ that when they run out against Manchester United on Sunday afternoon, Liverpool will be the old Liverpool again,” he wrote in his national newspaper column.

“But that will only last for 90 minutes because this is not the club I and millions of others around the world grew up supporting.

“Their aura of invincibility has gone completely and if they did not have Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres they would be a mediocre mid-table side.”

That might be a slight over-exaggeration but you get the point.

Ever since the day after the Champions League final in 2007, when Rafa Benitez famously warned that “all we do is talk, talk, talk”, the Americans have overseen the most turbulent spell in the club’s history.

Surely they must understand the anger, resentment and frustration?

Surely they can accept they have danced their last dance?

What benefits are they feeling from being on the end of such ill will?

Can’t they see all anyone wants is a fresh start?

Liverpool needs to be a club that’s manager can make statements that let supporters dare to dream, not cower in fear.

Unfortunately, however, until G & T remain owners, the Reds will remain on the rocks.